Tag Archives: Plymouth Neon

Our employee Matt ordered some window moldings for his 1998 Dodge Neon and the moldings were transferred from the “Vintage Parts” division.

We think its pretty interesting that our 1995-1999 Dodge Neons are now considered “Vintage”. Should we start applying for ANTIQUE VEHICLE plates yet ? Hehehe. We got a laugh out of this and thought it would be cool to share with you guys.

Anytime you are installing a new component like a new larger turbo on your 03-05 Dodge SRT4, or a new header on your 95-05 Neon, you should consider installing ARP Exhaust studs.

Why ? Well, each time you remove and reinstall a screw into the head of your engine, you increase the chances of stripping out the threads, and furthermore the ARP studs are stronger! The ARP studs, because they are forged, can handle a lot more weight than your typical bolt!

The way these work, is you thread the studs into the head just like a normal exhaust bolt. You use a allen key to thread the stud into place as the stud has a allen key receptacle on the end of it. After tightening down the stud, you then put the new component onto the stud, and then torque down the nut onto the stud.

The photo above is of a 2004 Dodge SRT4, and you may wonder why the engine is sitting at an angle.

The reason is, the customer that owns this car has a very modified engine, larger turbo, cams, and cam gears. Most owners of cars who install cam gears typically leave the cam gear covers off so that they can adjust the cam gears easily.

The problem with leaving the plastic cam gear covers off, is your timing belt and other timing accesories can be damaged. In this particular case, the customers power steering belt flew off, somehow got lodged into the timing belt assembly and destroyed the timing belt. Thankfully the 03-05 SRT4 is a non interference motor that in case the timing belt breaks the valves wont slam into the pistons, and this customer had no engine damage because of his timing belt failing.

The 2.0 Neon motor from 1995-2005 are all interference motors so if your timing belt fails, then the valves will crash into the pistons and cause catastrophic damage.

Our good friend Alex, who bought a bone stock 98 Plymouth Neon ACR a few weeks ago, has replaced his bubble alloy wheels with a set of Rota Slipstreams!

These wheels used to be on my 95 NYG ACR, which we are currently doing the SRT4 swap into. I hadnt planned on selling these wheels, but due to me installing the SRT4 brakes, we need more clearance for the SRT4 calipers, and will need larger wheels. Furthermore, the super lightweight 15 inch Rota wheels will spin like mad with the additional power and torquefrom the 2.4 turbo setup thats being planted into the 95 Neon NYG engine bay.

Before we move onto the photos, Id like to give you some more information on the Rota Slipstream wheel for the 95-05 Dodge/Plymouth Neon. I HIGHLY recommend them for the following reasons 1) You can get them in the PERFECT offset for the Dodge Neon. 2) They are super lightweight 3) They are super affordable, usually costing only $110-$130 per wheel in the 15 x 7 inch size.

Now, onto the photos.

Here is a photo of a stock wheel on a weight scale. Here you can see it weighs 32 lbs for the stock 14 inch wheel and tire.

Here is a photo showing the Rota 15 inch wheel and tire, weighing in at 31.4 lbs. Saving 1/2 a lb doesnt sound like much, but it makes a difference, and the lower profile tire makes for better cornering!

Now here is what Alex’s 98 Plymouth Neon ACR looks like with his bubble alloy wheels.

Front quarter view with the new Rota wheels, also showing off the Stealth black Depo headlights.

Front quarter view with the stock 14 inch bubble alloy wheels.

Ahh, what a beautiful wheel..

Wheels that are lighter, larger in diameter, and better looking!

To view the other blog posts on Alex, simply type in Alex in the search bar in the blog, or copy and paste the link below into your brower. In the posts that show up youll see how Alex bought his car, and his first round of modifications.

For those of you who are following our MPx 2.4 cam gear project, heres an update!

We have taken the cam gears and installed them onto our SRT4 motor we are swapping into a 95 Nitro Yellow Green Neon ACR.

They fit great, look great, and most importantly, because of the latest revision, they are stronger than any other cam gear design. So,
if your concerned about cracking cam gears like some SRT4 owners have had, this shouldnt be a concern with the MPx 2.4 cam gears!

Here are some of the benefits of these cam gears over other brand 2.4 cam gears.

– Solid inner design means great strength, no having to worry about spokes breaking or cracking.
– These were designed so that you can use the factory plastic timing cover
– These were designed so that you DO NOT HAVE TO TRIM THE MOTOR MOUNT (unlike Fidanza)

Here are some photos of the cam gears installed.

Link to the other threads showing prototype cam gears, and revision of the design:
http://blog.modernperformance.com/photo-of-prototype-mpx-24-cam-gears-for-03-05-srt4-and-24-stratusbreezept-cruiser-motors
http://blog.modernperformance.com/we-made-a-revision-to-the-prototype-24-cam-gears-to-strengthen-them-further

After posting some photos of our prototype 2.4 Cam gears we are designing for use with the 2.4 03-05 Dodge SRT4 and the 95-01 Dodge Stratus/Pt Cruiser with the 2.4 motor, we got feedback from some customers that they were concerned about installing cam gears on their cars due to failures of other brands of cam gears.

So, even though we had done some stress testing and failure analysis testing of our cam gears that showed there would be no problems, we decided to make our cam gears even stronger to put everyone at ease.

First off, we scrapped all of the inner sections that were already built for the 2.4 cam gear production. This is pretty costly to do, but we want customers who are considering the cam gears to have 100% faith in the strength of the cam gears.

So, here’s a photo of all of our machined cam gear inner sections in the recycle aluminum container at our machine shop.

Heres the revision we have come up with of our prototype cam gears. We have designed the cam gear so that the slots are only cut 40% into the thickness of the cam gear. This is a great design, because the cam gear is essentially a solid cam gear, however you have the look of a slotted cam gear, and the weight of the cam gear is reduced by the unnecessary aluminum being cut out.

We plan on having our full production run finished by next week, and we will test fit/take photos and make a follow up post then.

We get calls often at Modern Performance from 1995-2005 Dodge/Plymouth Neon owners who have problems getting their manual transmission into gear, or even into reverse.

Sometimes, these problems can arise from shifter problems, but a very high percentage of Neon owners have problems with their manual transmission shift linkage bushings.

To better understand explain the problem, lets start out with the basics. Every manual transmission Neon has a shifter assembly inside the car, and two shift linkage cables attached onto it. The shift linkage cables go through the firewall and attach onto the transmission. The shift linkage cables are made out of steel, but the end of the shift linkages have rubber bushings that fail over time. Over time, your shifter will start to feel more and more mushy, and it will be more difficult to get the transmission into gear.

Heres a photo showing the shifter and the cables which are under the center console. The shifter bushings are pointed to in red, and the shift linkages are pointed to with yellow arrows.

Now, if you go to the dealership and try to buy replacement bushings, they arent sold seperately so you have to buy new shifter cables which will cost $130+! The solution to fix this, is with a product called Booger Bushings. Booger bushings are a set of four bushings that replace the two shifter bushings inside the car, and the two shifter bushings on the transmission.

Here are the Booger bushings:

Here is a photo of the same shifter above, with the Booger bushings installed on the shifter assembly.

Here is a photo of the transmission with the booger bushings installed.

Link to booger bushings on our website for more details:
http://www.modernperformance.com/booger-shift-linkage-bushings-9505-neon-cruiser-p-1681.html

Just for fun, heres a photo of a Neon where the shifter bushing disintegrated and fell off the car. This Neon still drove, but the driver would have a very hard time getting the car into gear!

Link to booger bushings on our website for more details:
http://www.modernperformance.com/booger-shift-linkage-bushings-9505-neon-cruiser-p-1681.html

Introducing the new VERSION2 MPx pulley for the 95-99 Neon. This pulley, is a redesign of the famous MPx pulley that has been out for the 95-99 Neon since 2001.

This underdrive pulley creates more power over the stock pulley by reducing overall weight, and size of the crank pulley. This allows your car to rev faster, and overall be much more peppy.

We took the same measurements of our MPx pulley, machined out some material where we could to make it lighter, and then inserted a stainless steel center hub sleeve for maximum strength. The reason we switched to a stainless steel center hub was to improve the overall strength of the pulley, and to make it easier to remove.

Even though stainless steel weighs nearly 4 times the weight of aluminum for the same size, because of weight reduction and improvement in design of the pulley, we were able to increase the overall weight of the pulley by only .05 lbs, or 1/20th of a pound compared to the older design!

After dealing with some quality issues with various cam gears, and long delays with some manufacturers, we decided to step up to the plate.

We took aim with three goals in mind 1) Improve on the quality of the cam gears currently in the market. 2) Improve on the pricing of the cam gear sets for the SRT4/Stratus/Breeze/Pt Cruiser and 3) Improve on the availability of the cam gears in the market. We cannot accept manufacturers being out of stock of cam gears for 1.5 – 3 months!

STRENGTH

We designed these cam gears to be ULTRA STRONG – you cant see it in the photo above, but the center section of the cam gear is ultra thick and strong. Also, whereas some cam gear manufacturers use locking systems with thin aluminum inner sections, we designed ours with thick inner sections that the adjustment screws thread into. We improved on the track where the adjustment bolt rides on by making it extra wide, and using bolts with extra wide heads for superior strength. Lastly, we use grade 8 bolts for the adjustment screws, and we anodize all of the wear surfaces and aluminum machined surfaces with a hard coat for protection and durability.

DESIGN

We designed the cam gear to look great, when its moving, and or when its sitting still.

PRICE

Youll be amazed at the affordable price for this great looking, super strong pair of cam gears!

8/26/09 – Modern Performance is accepting deposits of $100 for the Quaife Differential for the 95-99 Neon that are incoming. The incoming batch will be priced at $999 versus the normal $1200 price.

Why are we accepting deposits you might ask ? Well, Quaife has DISCONTINUED the 95-99 Neon Quaife differential and so Modern Performance has stepped up to the plate, worked out a production run of 20 units with Quaife, and we are funding the entire production run IN ADVANCE. Without Modern Performance doing this, there would be NO MORE NEW 95-99 Neon differentials available.

We get calls all the time from customers who state pretty much exactly the same story.

“Ive got a 1996/2000/2003 Dodge/Plymouth Neon and or 2003-2005 Dodge SRT-4 and Ive got a lot of movement from my engine. I think my motor mounts are shot, and I want to use the Prothane motor mount inserts with my factory motor mounts to prevent the engine movement.”

Now, it sounds like a good idea, but heres the problem.

Prothane motor mount inserts are meant to be used with new, or good condition motor mounts to prevent flexing of the engine. They are NOT designed to be used with worn out or failing motor mounts. Why ? Well, when the motor mounts are failing, they will have way too much movement, and a motor mount insert wont fix it.

It would be like using a band aid on a major cut on your arm (that really requires stitches). It might work for a little while, but its ultimately the wrong way of fixing the problem.

Bottom line :

If you have a failing set of motor mounts with your 95-05 Neon or 03-05 Neon SRT4, and you’d like to use motor mount inserts, REPLACE your motor mounts and then install the inserts at the same time. It will make a drastic difference, and the combo of solid motor mounts and new inserts will last a LONG time.